Entries with the tag: san jose sharks

When one thinks of hockey, one probably thinks of places like Canada (obviously), the Northeast, the Northwest, upper Midwest and so on and so forth.

One does not, however, think of places like Florida, Phoenix, Nashville, Los Angeles or San Jose. With warm climates such as those, who would think that hockey could be so successful?

Well, the above-mentioned areas have done the unthinkable and have all had various degrees of success not only in the National Hockey League, but also in developing the game in surrounding areas. This all starts from a place of building a winning NHL franchise.

In fact, all five of cities/states mentioned above all had NHL teams in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this year, where the Los Angeles Kings won their first Stanley Cup in franchise history over the New Jersey Devils in six games.

That is exactly what the New York Rangers gave last night in their 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks at Madison Square Garden.

For the first time on home ice this season, there was no third period let down, something the team struggled with in their losses to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators. Instead, the team’s hard-work and effort lasted the whole game as the the team picked up its first win on the Garden ice in this somewhat young season.

Team captain Ryan Callahan is starting to show his scoring touch as he picked up another two goals last night, giving him five on the season. He is also showing a knack for going hard to the net and being in the right place at the right time, something the team will need from him throughout the rest of the season.

The team also got strong games from Brandon Dubinsky (2 assists), Erik Christensen (2 assists), Dan Girardi (2 assists), and back-up netminder Martin Biron (24 saves), who improved his record to 2-0. It was easily the team’s most complete game of the season.

At 3-3-3, the New York Rangers certainly have not played their best in this young season and at the same time, have yet to click on all levels. That is the good thing.

The bad thing is that the way has played in their last two games against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, both losses at Madison Square Garden. Their play in the third period in both games is also alarming.

In their loss to the Senators on Saturday afternoon at MSG, the team blew a 4-1 lead in the third period and lost 5-4 in the shootout. In a game that the team scores four goals, gets solid performances from both Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik and is at home, it should have been a Rangers’ victory.

With 30 teams in the National Hockey League, there are obviously several great franchises that have either deserved to win the Stanley Cup or have had several opportunities to do so only never to cash in on the golden opportunity.

One club that easily fits that model is the San Jose Sharks. Since joining the National Hockey League during the 1991-92 season, the team has had many great regular seasons, many division championships and many appearances in the postseason. The only thing missing: Lord Stanley.

Looking at the four starting goaltenders for the remaining teams in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it is easy to see that a few of them have had trouble handling the puck in the Conference Finals’ series.

In Game 1 against the San Jose Sharks, Vancouver Canucks’ goaltender Roberto Luongo put a pass right on Joe Thornton’s stick and Thornton than put it past a diving Luongo to give his team a 1-0 lead.

In Game 4 against the Lightning, there was a miscommunication between Bruins’ netminder Tim Thomas and Bruins’ defenseman Zdeno Chara that led to Lightning forward Teddy Purcell’s first goal of the game. Had Thomas just moved it away from Chara, the play would have been over and done with and the Bruins would have more than likely gotten out of their own end.

In that same game, there was miscommunication between Lightning goaltender Dwayne Roloson and his defenseman, leading Bruins’ forward Patrice Bergeron to to wrap the puck around the net and put it through Roloson’s legs to give his team a then 1-0 lead.

That is exactly what San Jose Sharks’ goaltender Antti Niemi is a part of.

Since becoming a full-time NHL netminder with the Chicago Blackhawks last season, all Niemi has done is win whether it is in the regular season or when it matters most, the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

For the second straight season, Niemi has led his club to the Western Conference Finals, giving his team a chance to get to the Stanley Cup Finals. This season, he’ll be facing off against Roberto Luongo, a guy he beat soundly last season when the Blackhawks knocked out the Canucks in the second round in last year’s postseason.

That is what the New York Rangers were able to do last night in their 3-2 shootout victory over the San Jose Sharks. It wasn’t pretty but the Blueshirts did not allow two deflection goals against to derail them en route to a victory.

At this point in the season, one point is not good enough for the Blueshirts and they showed that last night in San Jose. The team got goals from from Erik Christensen, Michael Sauer and in the shootout, got the winner from Brandon Dubinsky after Wojtek Wolski extended the shootout by scoring on Sharks’ netminder Antti Niemi in the third round of the skills competition.

The Blueshirts also got a terrific performance from their netminder Henrik Lundqvist. Lundqvist made 31 saves in 65 minutes and then went and stopped five of six shots in the shootout to pick up his 28th victory of the season.

If you’re still up at 10:30 p.m. tonight, I hope you hockey/New York Rangers’ fans will tune into tonight’s game between the Blueshirts and the San Jose Sharks.

After losing to the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night and having a few days off, the Blueshirts find themselves in tied for seventh/eighth in the Eastern Conference with the Buffalo Sabres. Unfortunately, the Rangers are also just two points up on the ninth place Carolina Hurricanes, making tonight’s tilt with the Sharks even more important.

I also agree with head coach Tortorella when he says that it is all about the Henrik Lundqvist show now. Lundqvist needs to bring his A-game the rest of the way if the Rangers want to have any chance of getting into the playoffs. Lundqvist has been quite good over his last few games so hopefully, he will be able to keep it up down the stretch.

In today’s 7-0 white-washing of the Philadelphia Flyers, the New York Rangers won by playing the kind of hockey that made them so successful earlier on in the season.

They forechecked, they hit, they blocked shots, they allowed their goaltender Henrik Lundqvist to see the puck, they cleared rebounds and they got timely goal scoring. Normally, this is a good recipe of success for any team in the NHL but for the ost part, this has been a big part of the Rangers’ identity when they have won games this season.

This afternoon’s Ranger of the game was easily Ryan Callahan. Callahan picked up his first career hat trick en route to a 4-goal and 5-point game for the Blueshirts. He drove hard to the net, used his quick release to beat Flyers’ netminder Brian Boucher and with his hard work, managed to crack the 20-goal mark.

The team also got solid performances out of Vaclav Prospal (2 assists), Mats Zuccarello (2 goals), Artem Anisimov (1 goal and 1 assist) and Lundqvist (24) saves, who picked up his league-leading ninth shutout of the season.

As I am sure many of you knowledgeable hockey blog fans are aware, Justin Bourne, who we have interviewed here on Kukla’s Korner, runs the great http://www.jtbourne.com and his now contributing his musings on Puck Daddy.

Justin was kind enough to take time out of his busy blog schedule to give us his thoughts on the Western Conference Finals:

PH: So, the top two teams in the Western Conference will are battling it out to see who goes to the Cup final. Was this pretty much expected?JT:No, before the playoffs I don’t think it would’ve been safe to say that the Sharks would find the will to get past a top team in a seven game series. Roster-wise it would have been easy to say, but most people are aware of their post-season crumblings, so them getting by Detroit was a heckuva feat. I’m glad they did - the West final is intensely interesting right now.

With guys like Aaron Voros and Donald Brashear on the New York Rangers’ roster, wouldn’t it have been better to keep/have a guy like Jed Ortmeyer on the team on again?

Jed works hard night in and night out and is being rewarded with the San Jose Sharks for his hard work. He gets a lot of playing time, he kills penalties, he blocks shots and makes the right decisions on and off the ice.

Yet, the Blueshirts went out and signed a guy like Donald Brashear this season. How do you think this makes General Manager Glen Sather look, especially considering that Ortmeyer was once a Ranger not too long ago?

Come on folks - we all knew the New York Rangers would blow up in a game sooner or later and that’s exactly what happened last night in a 7-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks.

What led to the team’s demise last night? For starters, Steve Valiquette did not get the job done in goal. He was way too deep in the crease on the first goal he allowed and throughout the two periods he played, he gave up some juicy rebounds, something you cannot do against a hungry Sharks team.

John Tortorella told the following to Jim Cerny after the game regarding Valiquette’s play between the pipes:

“I thought Vally fought it,” said Tortorella. “I was hoping he’d work through it. I don’t think he was sharp.”

The New York Rangers will have their hands full when they take on the San Jose Sharks tonight at Madison Square Garden.

While the teams they have faced so far certainly cannot be considered slouches, (well, may be except for the Toronto Maple Leafs) tonight’s tilt will be a challenge considering the offense that the San Jose Sharks have. The Blueshirts will have to contain guys like Joe Thornton (2g, 11a), Dany Heatley (5g, 5a), Patrick Marleau (6g, 1a), Devon Setoguchi (5g, 1a), and Dan Boyle (1g, 6a).

This is a game where the Rangers will be not able to afford a lacksadasical effort. It might have worked against a team like the Los Angeles Kings or even for moments against the Leafs but if that happens tonight, the Sharks will more than likely make them pay for it.

When general manager Doug Wilson clears his head after his San Jose Sharks’ biggest postseason flop to date, he’ll have to decide whether it’s worth keeping together a team that plays incredible hockey until the games that matter the most.

The Sharks made an early exit from the NHL playoffs for the fourth straight season Monday night, finished off in six games by the eighth-seeded Anaheim Ducks. San Jose was thoroughly outplayed by a savvy, veteran-led team that saved its best performances for the postseason.

I sure hope Jarome Iginla doesn’t take too much heat for the Flames’ first-round exit. He was widely viewed as one of the best captains and leaders in the game before the ‘Hawks series and just because his injury-riddled team fell in six games, that assessment shouldn’t change. There are very few athletes who are easy to cheer for, and Iginla is still near the top of the list. Give him the “C” for 2010, please.

In what was the team’s biggest test of the season, the New York Rangers passed with flying colors despite losing to the league’s best team, the San Jose Sharks, 3-2 last night at the HP Pavilion Center.

Despite a poorly played first period, last night had to be one of the team’s best efforts all season. They were especially good in the third period, when they controlled play and dominated the Sharks, outshooting them 17-7. Unfortunately, the Blueshirts were unable to get one by Sharks’ netminder Evgeni Nabokov, who played well after dropping his previous two decisions to the Detroit Red Wings and the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Yes, the team lost a valuable two points last night but this was a game where the Blueshirts proved that they are not far off from being considered one of the league’s top teams this season.

If there was ever a game that the New York Rangers could use as a measuring stick, tonight’s tilt with the San Jose Sharks in San Jose would be that game.

San Jose comes into tonight’s matchup sporting a 25-4-3 record, good for 53 points and the top spot in both the Western Conference and the Natioanl Hockey League. On the other side, the Bluershirts come into tonight’s game with a 22-11-2 record, 46 points and sits in second place in the Eastern Conference (at least until all the other teams catch up in games played).

In his Rangers Report Blog, Journal News Ranger beat writer Sam Weinman says that tonight’s game could be a game where the Rangers realize that they’re not that far off or they could realize that they still have a lot of work to do to become a Stanley Cup contender.

The New York Rangers hope to extend their win streak to three tonight when they take on the Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center.

The Blueshirts are coming off an impressive 3-1 win last night over the Anaheim Ducks, getting goals from Chris Drury, Nigel Dawes and Nikolai Zherdev. The team also got another strong performance from their goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 19 of 20 shots.

It doesn’t appear that the whole Mats Sundin situation is a distraction to the team as all they are focused on is winning.

As we all know, hockey is a fledgling sport in the U.S. It doesn’t get the coverage it deserves and when it does press, it’s usually for something negative (ahem, Sean Avery).

However, one radio channel/network that steps up when it comes to hockey coverage is XM’s NHL Home Ice Channel. Day in and day out, the channel provides great hockey content to fans all over the world and always has them coming back for more.

Recently, I had the opportunity to do an e-mail interview with one of the channel’s hosts and producers, Mike Ross. “Rossy” tells us about how he fell in love with the game, how he got involved in hockey radio, the channel’s future, this season’s surprises/disappointments and of course, his Stanley Cup predicition.